Drapery pinhook packaging and dispensing device

ABSTRACT

Drapery pinhook packaging and dispensing device comprising an extruded plastic tube having an integral supporting member therein both shaped in cross section to smoothly receive a row of pinhooks therein and facilitate dispensing and/or removal thereof and adapted for right-hand and left-hand operation.

United States Patent [72] Inventor [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,888,680 6/1959 Krivis Hugo Bauer Union County, NJ. (124 Summit Court, Westi'ield, NJ 07090) 883,091

3,209,947 10/1965 Truji1lo...... 3,332,598 7/1967 Primary Examiner- Robert B. Reeves Assistant Examiner- David A. Scherbel Attorney-David I-I. Tannenbaum [21] Appl. No.

[22] Filed Dec. 8, 1969 [45] Patented Mar. 16, 1971 [54] DRAPERY PINHOOK PACKAGING AND DISPENSING DEVICE 7 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

221/255, ABSTRACT: Drapery pinhook packaging and dispensing Int. [50] Field ofSearch............................................

( inquired) and left-hand operation.

PATENIED m1 6|97| 3 0 SHEET 1- or 2 INVENTOR HUGO BAUER PATENTEUMAMSIQII 33.570. 7 10 sum 2 or 2 FIG. 2

INVENTOR HUGO BAUER DRAPERY PINHOOK PACKAGING AND DISPENSING DEVICE BACKGROUND 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to the application of drapery pinhooks to draperies and more particularly to tools containing a supply of stacked pinhooks to be successively dispensed therefrom and held by the tool for application to the drapery.

2. Description of Prior Art I-Ieretofore such tools have been expensive in fabrication and assembly and have required special skill in operation. For example in the Niel Pat. No. 3,332,598 there is a rack of complicated shape, having transversely extending ribs, a pin to hold the stack together and a hook to lock that rack inside of a rectangular'box. The box does not confine the exterior of the pinhooks, but instead may allow the pinhooks to tilt, cross each other and get stuck.

SUMMARY The present invention of the Drapery Pinhook Packaging and Dispensing device comprises a tube having an interior cross section conforming generally to the exterior periphery of the pinhooks, thereby to facilitate loading, dispensing or removal thereof. The tube is preferably of extruded plastic and contains an integral supporting member having at least a pair of longitudinally extending flanges with contact portions spaced'from the inside surface of the tube to receive the drapery pinhooks therebetween. The interior cross section is a unitary continuous surface and thus of uniform cross section from end to end, and free of transversely extending parts. Preferably the tube has a dispensing head or cap at each end thereof, of complementary construction for respective righthand or left-hand operation.

DRAWlNG FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a drapery pinhook packaging and dispensing device, according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a transverse view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the same held for righthand operation;

FIG. 4 shows a drapery pin engaged by the positioner; and FIG. 5 is an end perspective view of a right side dispensing head.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION As shown in the drawings, the preferred form of the device comprises a tube It) having a wall 12 of integral construction and uniform thickness in cross section throughout its length.

The tube is drawn plastic or aluminum by extrusion.

The wall llz'has a bevel or sloping portion 15, which with the rest of the tube is shaped to conform to the-exterior of the pinhook portion 37 of the pinhook.

Inside the tube It) is a supporting member 14 comprising an inwardly extending horizontal flange 16, in turn having an upwardly extending vertical flange l8 and a downwardly extending vertical flange 50. These flanges form longitudinally extending ridges spaced from the inside surface of the tube 10 to receive the drapery pinhooks between the supporting member 14 and the tube 10. The pin portion 20 of thepinhook fits snugly under'the horizontal flange 16. Thus the supporting member 14 has a uniform cross section throughout its length and is integral with the tube 110, all in one piece.

As shown in FIG. 2, the inner surface of housing 10 conforms to the outer surfaces of the curved pinhook while the supporting ledge M and the flanges attached thereto provide surfaces conforming to the inner surfaces of the curved pinhook. Accordingly, the interior cross section area of the tube it) conforms to the entire exterior periphery which periphery includes both the inner and outer curved surfaces of the pinhook.

The clearance between the pinhooks and the tube 10 and supporting member 14 is small enough to maintain the pin hooks in alignment during the entire dispensing operation.

The end of tube 10 fits into a dispensing head 36 with vertically slidable therein a positioner 24 which receives the pinhooks in succession by gravity from tube 10. The positioner 24 is operated by a thumb piece 26 against a return spring 28 bearing on the angle bottom 30 of the housing 22.

As shown in exploded form in FIG. 1 and in more detail in FIGS. 4 and 5, the positioner 24 is maintained in slidable relationship with the end of tube 10 by housing 22 and angle plate 30, which angle plate also serves as a stop for the vertical travel of positioner 24. Thus, when the positioner 24 is inits most upward position, being urged into that position by spring 28 exerting an upward force thereon, the positioner lip 40, which lip has the same general shape as the inner periphery of the pinhooks, engages a first pinhook positioned in the tube 10. When downward force is exerted on thumb piece 26, the positioner 24 moves downward inside housing 22. Accordingly, the bottom leg of the engaged pinhook is also moved downward and thus emerges below the base line of the tube 10. At this point the hook is maintained in rigid relationship to the tube 10 and is in position to be inserted into the drapery material. Once the drapery hook is so engaged, the pressure is removed from the thumb piece 26 and the positioner 24 again moves upward, thereby leaving the engaged pinhook in the drapery material. It should be noted that the downward distance through which the engaged pinhook is moved is relatively small and is determined by the thickness of the bottom edge of the tube 10.

FIG. 5 illustrates a dispensing head arranged for connection to the right end of the tube. Lip 40 of positioner 24 is shown gripping a pinhook (shown in broken lines) prior to displacement of the pinhook downward.

Pilot screws 32 passing through registering holes in the housing and positioner, engage threaded sockets 34 in the bottom 30 to hold these parts together and maintain them in alignment.

The other end of the tube 10 is provided with a complementary dispensing head 36 adapted for left-hand operation.

In either case the other end of tube 10 will be closed by cap 38 as shown in FIG. 3. The tube 10 is loaded with pinhooks as a retail package and a cap 38 is applied to each end as a closure.

For use in applying the pinhooks to the drapery, one of the caps is replaced by a dispensing head 36 and fastened to the tube 10 by a clamp 37 which is an integral part of the dispensing head housing.

lclaim: v

1. A drapery pinhook packaging and dispensing device comprising a package tube for supplying a plurality of pinhooks; l

a dispensing head into which said pinhooks may be passed from said tube; v

a pinhook positioner mounted in said dispensing head for receiving said pinhooks from said package tube;

said package tube having an interior cross section defined by the inner wall'of said package tube and a ledge integral with said package tube, said interior cross section conforming to the exterior periphery of the pinhooks, thereby to facilitate storage and passing said pinhooks from said tube.

2. A drapery pinhook packaging and dispensing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said integral ledge comprises at least a pair of longitudinally extending flanges each spaced in fixed relationship with the inside of said tube to receive said drapery hooks between said ledge and said tube.

3. A drapery pinhook packaging and dispensing device as claimed in claim 2, in which said integral ledge is of uniform cross section from end to end, so as to define a continuously uniform passageway for the passing of said drapery pinhooks.

4. A device, according to claim 1, wherein said tube and said ledge comprise a single unitary member whose exterior shape enables it to serve as the handle of the device by the user.

5. A tube for supplying pinhooks in sequential fashion to a dispensing head attachable to either end of said tube,

said tube having an interior cross section define-:1 by the inner surface of said tube and a ledge extending 1ongitudinal and in fixed relationship with said inner surface, said cross section conforming to the er-zterior periphery of said pinhooks allowing said pinhooks to supply a dispensing head connected to one of said tube ends while at the same time allowing said pinhooks to supply another dispensing head connected to said other tube end. 6. The invention defined in claim 5 wherein said ledge is integral with said inner surface and contains at least two longitu- 

1. A drapery pinhook packaging and dispensing device comprising a package tube for supplying a plurality of pinhooks; a dispensing head into which said pinhooks may be passed from said tube; a pinhook positioner mounted in said dispensing head for receiving said pinhooks from said package tube; said package tube having an interior cross section defined by the inner wall of said package tube and a ledge integral with said package tube, said interior cross section conforming to the exterior periphery of the pinhooks, thereby to facilitate storage and passing said pinhooks from said tube.
 2. A drapery pinhook packaging and dispensing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said integral ledge comprises at least a pair of longitudinally extending flanges each spaced in fixed relationship with the inside of said tube to receive said drapery hooks between said ledge and said tuBe.
 3. A drapery pinhook packaging and dispensing device as claimed in claim 2, in which said integral ledge is of uniform cross section from end to end, so as to define a continuously uniform passageway for the passing of said drapery pinhooks.
 4. A device, according to claim 1, wherein said tube and said ledge comprise a single unitary member whose exterior shape enables it to serve as the handle of the device by the user.
 5. A tube for supplying pinhooks in sequential fashion to a dispensing head attachable to either end of said tube, said tube having an interior cross section defined by the inner surface of said tube and a ledge extending longitudinal and in fixed relationship with said inner surface, said cross section conforming to the exterior periphery of said pinhooks allowing said pinhooks to supply a dispensing head connected to one of said tube ends while at the same time allowing said pinhooks to supply another dispensing head connected to said other tube end.
 6. The invention defined in claim 5 wherein said ledge is integral with said inner surface and contains at least two longitudinally extending flanges each integral with said ledge.
 7. A pinhook packaging and dispensing device comprising at least one dispensing head, a tube defining an interior cross section having two ends, each end adapted for connection to one of said dispensing heads for supplying pinhooks to a connected dispensing head, said interior cross section conforming to the exterior periphery of said pinhooks allowing said pinhooks to supply a dispensing head connected to one of said tube ends while at the same time allowing said pinhooks to supply another dispensing head connected to said other tube end. 